


Swinging High (The When You Finally Make The Jump Remix)

by Sole_Sakuma



Category: KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Gen, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-23
Updated: 2011-04-23
Packaged: 2017-10-18 12:51:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/189072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sole_Sakuma/pseuds/Sole_Sakuma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they were kids, he and Jin would dare each other to jump off the swings. Jin always landed on his feet, Kame always ended up bruised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swinging High (The When You Finally Make The Jump Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sadnlonleyme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadnlonleyme/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Swinging High](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/3019) by sadnlone. 



> I hope you enjoy this, sadnlonlyme.
> 
> It's angstier than your original, but I really liked the swings imagery so I went with that, expanding on the original's backstory

_Swing High_

(Once upon a time)

Eyes closed, wind on his face, Jin's voice reaching him.

'You know what to do, Kame!'

A loud thud on the ground.

Kame opened his eyes and saw Jin standing there with a wide grin. 'I can't jump. I just can't,’ he said.

'Don't be scared.’ Jin laugh pierced his ears. ‘It’s really easy! Just follow my instructions.

You just swing high, then swing low, then even higher. And then you make the jump.'

 

 _Swing Low_

(Summer, 2005)

 

Summer sometimes felt like murder at the wet, scorching hands of a revengeful, forgotten goddess who had woken up to remind the city that concrete was unnatural and that human beings should return to a pristine state of living as one with nature.

Kame's T-shirt was glued to his chest and he didn't even bother to wipe the sweat off his face. His hands dived deep into his pockets and he licked his lips yet again.

The city was in one of those weird summer lulls when people were heard, but not seen. Kame was grateful for those moments. He could just shut up and enjoy Jin's running commentary on everything as they walked down the street, hand in hand if they could get away with it.

But Jin was silent.

The park was near and Kame remembered the fresh summer gales and the whispering leaves above their heads. They had gone there every day after rehearsal since one fateful spring afternoon when Jin had decided that they were old enough to get home late. They tried going to the arcade or even the pachinko parlour, but they had ended up playing in the swings.

'Hey, Jin, what about the park?'

Jin nodded, but said nothing.

Their footsteps were echoed by the asphalt and then muffled by the grass. Kame sat by a tree and stared at the clouds. They moved slowly, like tired cotton elephants lazily grazing in a blue savannah.

Jin sat down next to him. He kept playing with a peddle he had found. Kame wanted to tell him to drop it, that it was disgusting, dirty but the knot on his throat was too tangled.  


'I heard,' Jin said.

'I know you can hear.'

Jin threw the peddle at a nearby crow. Kame flinched. 'Don't lie. Don't fucking lie.'

'What? What did you hear? That I'm an ambitious bitch who wants to break up the group? That I don't care about you at all? That I'm a manipulative bastard out to get you? Tell me, Jin, what the fuck did you hear?'

Jin stood up and fixed his clothes. 'That you didn't fight it.'

 

 _Swing Higher_

(Winter, 2006)

 

The wind was chilly and it cut to the bone like icy blades, but Kame didn't care. He just got closer to Jin and held onto his hand even tighter. The familiar warmth spread towards his body and Kame smiled. He doubted people would be able to realize who they were, hidden under scarves and fluffy hats.

His heart pounded, trying to get out of his chest and he heard Jin's talking and talking. Jin's heart was probably pounding too and his words were his way to show that to Kame.

'Debut! We are going to _debut_! Finally! We did it. We did it.'

'You've said that a thousand times already, it's getting annoying.'

Jin elbowed him. 'That's not it, the problem is that you're too quiet. Don't you get why this is so awesome?'

'Yeah, I do get it but I don't need to repeat it all the time.'

'Right, you already know how it feels, don't you?'

Kame's eyes turned to his shoes. They kept walking in silence.

Jin squeezed his hand. 'Race you to the park, okay?' he said before letting go of Kame’s hand dashing off. He was but a blur getting farther away.

Kame followed but Jin's was always faster and always setting the pace. Kame could only try to keep up.

By the time he got to the park, gasping for air, Jin was already twirling in a swing. Kame approached him. He heard crispy leaves under his feet and some kids fighting. He sat next to Jin.

'Nothing can stop us now, you know? We are unstoppable, I can taste it,' he said.

'What do you mean, 'taste'? Sometimes you're so weird, Kamenashi. But I guess I like you that way.'

Kame just laughed.

 

 _Close your eyes_

(Spring, 2006)

 

The sky threatened the city with rain. It was the colour of lead and people around him quickened his pace trying to reach the train station or maybe just their homes. Kame gripped the handle of his umbrella even tighter and kept his pace steady. His _own_ pace.

Every limb in his body ached and some muscles he didn't know he had made their presence known by hurting. He pressed on, biting his lip.

'Maybe I have a cold,' he said aloud, but nobody heard him.

So he had to get home, eat, rest, maybe sleep. He pressed on, trying to get home as quickly as possible before he collapsed in public. That'd be embarrassing.

But when he saw the park and the lonely swings his intent wavered. It was empty and the swings were moving in the air, as if ghosts were there, playing when nobody was around. He knew it was the wind, but ghosts would have been more interesting. Maybe the city was actually filled with ghosts who mindlessly kept their routines. Maybe they just didn’t know that their hearts were dead and that the light in their eyes was long gone.

He got closer to them and swung alone. He could still do it. He swung higher and higher. When they were kids, he and Jin would dare each other to jump off the swings. Jin always landed on his feet, Kame always ended up bruised.

Raindrops fell onto his head and the cold water hurt. The emptiness was oppressive and it was almost as if the world was ending and everybody had disappeared. It would have been a welcome development, or at least he wouldn't notice, because he couldn't be more lonely even if he tried.

 

 _And then make the jump_

(Spring, 2010)

 

Birds were singing loud enough that they were actually heard over the constant humming of the city. Cars, people laughing, crows in the distance, even the remote sound of trains running in time.

Colours were singing too. Vibrant blue in the sky, soft white in the clouds, shrieking green in every tree. And the sun was warm and inviting. A perfect spring day. A perfect day for an walk.

Kame put his hands in his pockets and tried to hum a happy song, but he couldn't think of any. So he settled for a random melody that went up and down and wandered and then died, becoming silence.

His feet walked on their own. Streets he had seen a thousand times, streets that were used to his footsteps.

That way laid the park. He had avoided it for several years, after catching the worst cold of his life. He imagined it - kids running everywhere, mothers watching over them. Maybe it was time to pay a visit, maybe it wouldn't hurt so much.

All the swings were full. Kids and a couple of high school students that were obviously trying their hand at being sweethearts.

'Higher!' she yelled and he pushed her. 'I feel like I'm flying!'

Kame turned back. There was nothing else for him there.


End file.
